Negotiations between Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman and House Democrats are going down to the wire ahead of a high-stakes markup on Thursday.
Westerman, an Arkansas Republican and trained forester, has been eager to rewrite the National Environmental Policy Act to accelerate a raft of project approvals. He sees it as the cornerstone of permitting reform.
“We’ve had productive talks,” Westerman said Wednesday of discussions with Democrats. “We’re working to see if we can come to an agreement outside of what we’ve already got in the [latest proposal].”
Westerman’s “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act,” H.R. 4776, would limit the scope of NEPA reviews — building on a recent Supreme Court decision — and reduce litigation.
